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| Personal and Spiritual Growth A forum to discuss propogating the soul and aspects of spirituality and religion. The topic of religion can sometimes become heated- so please try to maintain respect. |
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14-04-2006, 03:45 PM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
Last year we decided to no longer celebrate easter, xmas, etc. We have a similar santa like celebration, based on my heritage in early december, but we don't do anything at this time of year. Althought we are not pagan either, we have decided to celebrate the change of seasons so that the kids have something to celebrate. The kids don't seem to feel like they are missing out and Tara-Mae quite happily tells people who bring up the subject that we don't do easter etc.
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Joyce Mummy to Tara-Mae, Freya and Sabrina 
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14-04-2006, 10:13 PM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
Well, this is an interesting thread. I find it enlightening that so many reject Easter and Xmas, espec. you Nikkip!  Gotta set the record straight about the early church though... the synchronisation of church with pagan beliefs was encouraged under the rule of Constantine (I saw a cross on a hill and thought that Christianity was the way to go Constantine). He did this because Christianity was growing in popularity and the Pagans were become less easy to control so these were born out of political expendiency. Constantine himself did a lot of nasty things to a lot of people during the time that he applauded Christianity and he finally was baptised on his death bed. Go and look up some historical encyclopedias for a more detailed read about this period in history if you are interested. It is fascinating but it certainly wasn't a push by early church evangelists. I think the likes of Peter and Paul would have been dismayed by the blending of religions that occurred at that time in history. Anyway, I'm with Nikkip... I don't like Easter and Xmas because of the Pagan roots but although we've tried in vain to avoid them the school system makes it very hard because they promote them so thoroughly. When Ds1 was born we thought we would be able to avoid the whole Santa thing but all you need is a child with a vivid imagination, loads of exposure to it and he thinks Santa is as real as his cat. Nothing we say would convince him otherwise. So, I guess sometimes we just have to roll with it and let them sort it all out for themselves when they are old enough to figure out what is real and what is not. That said, last night we had a traditional Passover Seder at our church and it was just lovely! Never done that before but hope to do it again. I think we need celebrations and commemorations in life to teach us and allow us time to reflect on the gift that life is. Hope you find something you can celebrate! C
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Pround mumma to: my big boy L 2000 my lightening fast D 2003 and my gorgeous A 2005 www.casmccullough.com (linked with permission) www.maternitycoalition.org.au (visit our new website!) Caesarean Awareness Network Australia (a free community service) I've been copiously thanked! 
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14-04-2006, 10:23 PM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
We create our own holiday traditions.
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14-04-2006, 11:01 PM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
We're Christians so I realise that your question wasn't really aimed at us, but I thought I'd give my 2 cents anyway We're in the process of creating our own holiday traditions at the moment. We don't confine our rememberance of Christ's death and resurrection to the Easter weekend, nor His birth to Christmas time - it's a real part of our every day lives. But I do think around Christmas is a nice time to reflect on the year that has passed and the people that were important to us during that year and to do something for them to show our appreciation for their input in our lives. DH is VERY not into the commercialisation of holidays... so we're more likely to avoid and give the gifts a week later or something like that... upset my family enormously the Christmas just past though because we went away for the weekend for some "family time" and told them we'd catch up the following week  go figure... it would have been ok w them if we'd arranged to meet with them the week *before* but for some reason after wasn't ok I think that as a family you decide what and when you celebrate...
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Melissa  Brianna 1/3/03 Ellia 20/10/04 Malachi 14/2/06 Ezra 10/11/07
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15-04-2006, 01:41 AM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
Quote:
 I celebrate at Christmas/Yule/Midsummer with gifts and singing and excessive food, much like most people I know. I enjoy it, and there's a lot of cultural meaning/context for it in our society. My group of uni friends has its own tradition at Easter, which is cooking up a big feast on one of the public holidays (usually Friday, as only one or two of the group are Christian, and they're happy to participate). However, I also celebrate the changing of the seasons in my own solitary way, although I've recently started celebrating with a likeminded friend. At Yule/Midsummer, we decorated wreaths, and shared home-baked treats, and chatted/shared with each other. It was lovely. I hope to include Maeve in all these traditions as she grows up, and she's welcome to take what she likes and leave the rest. I try not to worry too much about squishing the wheel of the year into Australian/Southern Hemisphere shape. A cycle based on a very different latitude and climate to ours is never going to be a perfect analogue, even reversed. As a wise friend once pointed out to me, the growth cycles of our part of Australia are less about the return of the Sun, and more about the rainfall patterns and water! So, I celebrate what feels appropriate, and it's gradually becoming a coherent pattern over the years, sort of like my spiritual practice as a whole. Does that make sense? Enjoy creating a festive tradition for your family! Have fun! 
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Siobhan
Mama to Maeve, 11/05 [...]And she'd had lucky eyes and high heart, And wisdom that caught fire like the dried flax, At need, and made her beautiful and fierce, Sudden and laughing. The Old Age of Queen Maeve, W.B.Yeats
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15-04-2006, 05:57 AM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
I was very much amused the other day when my daughter (6) was explaining to son (8) that she does not believe in God and Jesus, only Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy! :o We celebrate Easter by allowing the Easter Bunny to visit and that is all. Our last celebration was Mabon, Autumn Equinox; when we give thanks (this is a harvest festival) for any benefits we have received in the past year. Our next will be Samhain on 1 May; this is "Halloween" in the Northern Hemisphere but it is also traditionally a time of remembering our ancestors and "New Year" in a spiritual sense. This is when I make my new years resolutions. This is the first year I am including the children in my celebrations; they are no longer in school (we homeschool now) and in any case I've not been "practising" as such for some time. I intend to establish traditions which they can incorporate into what is happening in the greater community. We will have a tree for Litha (Summer Solstice) at Xmas time, though it will be decorated with artificial fruit and other "natural" decorations.
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15-04-2006, 08:20 AM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
Wow, I should have started this thread earlier. I'd like to try to incorporate Pagan celebrations into our lives but a) I am so lazy about things of that nature its down right embarrassing and b) is it raising Rowan Pagan? Because I'm mostly against indoctrinating kids into religions before they are old enough to choose what they want to believe. I suppose just doing earth centred holiday activiities (the wreaths, etc) wouldnt be so much indoctrinating him as giving him a rough foundation. I dont know. When do we start doing things like this? Rowan's only 4 months old . . . do we wait until he's old enough to understand that we're doing something special or do we start now to get ourselves into the "habit" so to speak? Its all so confusing. I wonder if there are books on raising Pagan kids? Perhaps I should have a look at them for some rough ideas (without being too overbearing about what he should and should not believe of course). Dont mind me, I just woke up and am wont to ramble. The above mentioned boy is now yelling at me so I should probably go . . .
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15-04-2006, 09:17 AM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
Seems to me that kids don't really develop a sense of tradition about these things until around age 3, 4, 5 even. You have plenty of time to experiment. It has taken us this long to explore our own belief systems and institute a kind of 'open tradition' that isn't too bound in a single doctrine. It is way more satisfying to evolve your own traditions rather than adopting the commercial traditions ad hoc. Have fun with it! 
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15-04-2006, 01:49 PM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
this was such a good read...so much diversity. On another parents forum i used to go to, i was involved in a very heated discussion about Santa and Christmas with a bunch of mothers, who basically where picking on this mother who said she wouldnt tell her child that santa was real, so i jumped in to say that my mother did the same thing and i never felt like i was denied my child hood. It was really nice to read this and see mothers sharing their thier veiws and beliefs while still being so accepting of how all families choose to celebrate or not !!! I really have no idea what i believe or feel about these things, i have never really come to terms with any one believe system that works for me. My view changes one day to the next, last night i watched that "Jesus" movie and walked away feeling so overwelmed...the story of Jesus is a very powerfull one... but then i look up at the stars....and ..... NE WAY... I was brought up in a very different way from most people I know . We celebrated most Christian Holidays but not in the same way, but reading this i realise that a few people do celebrate the same way. For intstants emmandcasp ideas are really close to what we celebrate.... Quote:
At Christmas we talk about Saint Nick, and the good he did for all the children back in his time, who didnt have lots of things like we do, so we all go and pick a toy we really want and we wrap it up and give put it under the Kmart wishing tree, or some where. ANs we buy small gifts that get hidden away untill Christmas eve, when we know that mum and da will pretend to be St. Nick and put the presents under the tree....keeping st nicks spirit alive. We where also taught the history of Christianity, and the history of other beliefs as well. Mum had many books she used to read to us about all sorts of different cultures...but mostly we folowed the Basics of Christianity. Thats us ne ways!
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Me(R'ee), DH, Cameron Jack(12/05/07)  and Sebastian Alexander(10/04/09) Raising a child with disabilities is not what anyone expects, but it has become our NORMAL life. We would never pass up an opportunity to make things easier for our child, but our loving little boy, who amazes us everyday, is precious just the way he is.   Fall down seven times, get up eight. -Japanese Proverb
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15-04-2006, 07:47 PM
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Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
Yeah we celebrate St Nick, or Sinterklaas as the dutch call him. We celebrate it on the eve of the 6th of December (which is the traditional date). We don't do xmas, but we do Sinterklaas, although we have altered the tradition slightly to suit our tastes. I also forgot to say in my earlier post that we do go to family's xmas celebrations as that is what they celebrate, we explain to our kids that everybody celebrates different things (or even the same things differently) and that we help them with their celebrations by joining them. We just don't celebrate it at home.
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Joyce Mummy to Tara-Mae, Freya and Sabrina
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